Cream Puffs with Chocolate Frosting

What’s light and fluffy and sweet all over? Cream Puffs! This delicate dessert is almost like a homemade donut! Filled with cream and topped with warm chocolate frosting, these little puffs melt in your mouth- no frying necessary!

Filling

Garnish

1 container milk chocolate frosting, warmed a bit in the microwave Powdered sugar, to sprinkle over the top of each cream puff

Pastry: preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place oven rack into the center of the oven. Spray a baking sheet lightly with nonstick spray. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and salt.

Place the butter and water in a heavy saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add the flour mixture, all at once, and stir until combined, using a heavy wooden spoon. Return saucepan to the heat and stir constantly until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan and forms a thick smooth ball (about 1-2 minutes).

Transfer the cream puff dough to your electric mixer, or use a hand mixer, and beat on low speed for about 1 minute to release the steam from the dough. Once the dough is lukewarm, start adding the lightly beaten eggs (dough will separate and then come together) and continue to mix until you have a smooth thick paste (dough will fall from a spoon in a thick ribbon).

Piping the dough onto the pan gives the finished puff a more uniform look and size. Plus aren’t those little squirts cute?

Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes; reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Continue to bake for an additional 20-25 minutes or until the shells are golden brown and when split, are almost dry inside. Turn the oven off and let puffs set for 5 additional minutes in the oven.

Remove puffs from the oven and turn each one over, poking a couple of holes in the bottom of each puff; place onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Poking a small hole in the bottom prevents the top of the cream puff from collapsing, leaving a nice, airy center for your filling!

Filling: Beat the whipping cream with electric mixer on high; add powdered sugar. As filling begins to thicken, add the instant pudding. Continue mixing until filling is smooth and creamy. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

To Assemble: Slice the cooled cream puffs in half and fill (or pipe) with prepared filling. Place the top half of the pastry on top of the filling, then drizzle the top of each cream puff with warm chocolate frosting; dust with powdered sugar. Store cream puffs in the refrigerator.

Cream Puffs are weatherman approved!

Now You’re Cookin’,Chef Alli

**This recipe was featured as part of Chef Alli’s Farm Fresh Kitchen on WIBW 13 News, July 2017. Special thanks to the farmers and ranchers of the Kansas Farm Bureau for making this segment possible! For more information on the events shared in this segment, visit www.kfb.org!

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